Next countries named their teams for Olympic Games

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Germany, Slovenia and the United States nominated their teams for the Olympic Games. Ulrike Grässler and Sarah Hendrickson part of their teams.

Also Germany, Slovenia and the United States now have nominated their teams for the Olympic Games in Sochi. Germany and Slovenia are both eligible to nominate the maximum quota of four jumpers for the Games, the United States will go there with a three-strong team. The national quotas were released on Monday.

After the injury of Ema Klinec, who was their best jumper in the first part of this winter, Slovenia named Maja Vtic, Katja Pozun, Eva Logar and Spela Rogelj for their team. Rogelj has currently the same score in the overall World Cup as Ursa Bogataj, but was clearly the better jumper in the last couple of years.

Germany: Preference for Grässler

The German squad will consist of World Cup runner-up Carina Vogt, Katharina Althaus, youngster Gianina Ernst and jumping pioneer Ulrike Grässler. Grässler got the nod over Ramona Straub, who is currently better than her in the overall World Cup. Straub wrote on her Facebook page: “I know that a lot of people do not understand this decision, but I am convinced, that Ulrike, Katharina, Gianina and of course Carina will kick the best out of themselves in Sochi and make a great competition there. This will help us all! I will not lose my enjoyment of jumping and I look forward to the next competitions.”

Sarah Hendrickson leads U.S.-Team

Next to Jessica Jerome, who was already seeded after winning the U.S. Olympic Trials in December, the U.S. team will be made up by Lindsey Van and Sarah Hendrickson. Together with Austria’s Daniela Iraschko and Norway’s Anette Sagen, who was not nominated for this Games, jumping pioneer Van played the biggest role in the fight to make Ladies Ski Jumping an Olympic sports. Hendrickson returned to the jumping hills just a few days ago, after curing a knee injury she suffered in August. Although she is obviously one of the best jumpers in the whole scene, it seems to be totally unclear, if she is already able to keep pace with the elite. “They are strong athletes and strong individuals because of the challenges and hardships they have faced both in the sport and outside of it. They have built this path to the Olympic Games brick-by-brick and they have done most of the heavy lifting,” said head coach Alan Alborn.